First Pool - Many Questions

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I selected 30 ppm CYA as I suspect you will close the pool for winter in a month or so. So your UV load is minimal.

No reason to wait - start the CYA dissolving.
 
So I added the 42oz of stabilizer using a sock and squeezed it a few times. Within a few hours it was dissolved completely. Not sure if this is good or bad. I had the pump turned up pretty high which I think helped.
Should I wait till tomorrow to test again for TA and all the others? I know the TA was high and the only thing I can do to lower it is turn the return up towards the surface.
 
TA will come down over time as you add acid. It should not be a big deal to close the pool with a higher TA.
Main goal now is to maintain the FC. Test the CYA early next week. to confirm your level, if you wish. With an AG pool, your volume is known and you know how much stabilizer you added, so your CYA level is a known.
 
So I tested the water today and below are the results.
FC-3
CC-0
PH-7.5
TA-260
CH-80
I checked the CYA and it is at 30 so I should be good there. I know you said the TA will come down in time using acid, should I be adding some? I also want to bring up the CH to 150-200 per the manual for the heater. Not sure the steps on which I should be doing things. I think that is the most confusing part. I've read the ABC's and still feel a little lost. I know you should correct TA then PH and then CH before the CL from what I have been reading. Just need some guidance to make sure I do it correctly. We plan on having people over on Saturday to swim so I want to have a safe pool to swim in...Lol
 
First and foremost, keep an eye on that FC. 2 is your absolute minimum level so I would dose it up to 6. This time of year you won't go through as much FC as mid-August, but test and dose daily until you get a good feel for daily FC usage.

You might do the same with PH, see how it behaves and if you find it constantly drifting up then you can add acid, but it isn't critical to reduce it right now given that your PH is within target.

Can't say I have ever heard a heater requiring CH..... CH doesn't matter for a vinly pool (unless you get it way too high and get scaling), though I suppose your heater mfg could void the warranty if they could somehow prove you didn't maintain according to their specs. The only harm in adding CH is the money it costs you. Maybe others will have thoughts on CH for the heater...?
 
The pentair manual for the Mastertemp 125 says the TA should be 80-100 (Ideal) 60 (Minimum) and for the CH they say 200-400 (Ideal) 150 (Minimum). They say that if you fail to be within these ranges it could potentially cause premature failure to the heat exchanger and void the warranty. I have a feeling that their parameters are more for inground pools and not AGP with Vinyl Liners.
 
After reading the TFP's Recommended Levels, the CH range for me would be 50-550. I'm guessing I should just leave this alone for now. I just need to figure out the TA for sure. I will add the recommended amount of CL to raise the FC to 6 and see what it will be tomorrow.
 
Pool heater companies state that a CH level is needed. It is based on data from steam boilers. Your pool heater is not a steam boiler. But some CH is needed as it can protect the heat exchanger from corrosion if pH, TA, and CH are all low. You could just use cal hypo to chlorinate with to raise your CH some.

Maintain pH in the 7's. TA will do what it does ------
 
One other thought... on the test for TA did you wipe the tip of the bottle with a damp cloth after each drop? There can be static that causes the drops to be smaller if you don't do this which would lead to a false high result.
 
Well my family and friends got to enjoy the pool for my daughter's birthday yesterday. Everyone had a great time and truly enjoyed seeing it.

Now I'm planning on closing the pool for the winter but my latest test results really has me confused on what to do next. Looking for some help to get these balanced so that I can close it next weekend. Not even sure where to start???
 

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You should add some chlorine but otherwise your levels are fine. Round up on the CYA so assume it is 30.

Kimkats is right but looking at the forecast your water temp could be 60 by next weekend. I usually close in phases, so I'll clean and vac the pool real well, then get the cover on but keep the pump and filtration in place until water temps drop below 60, then finish the closing.
 
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Sound like you took advantage of the same "deal" I did. I have the 27' (18,000 gal) Athena model. If you haven't bought the heater yet, do it. We added the 200k BTU on ours right away when it was installed late September. Took about a week of fiddling to get semi safe readings to swim in, but turning on that heater with that pump raises the overall pool temp about 3 degrees an hour. So even when the night was at 50 degrees we were still enjoying out rather large hot tub. Only got a couple of weeks out of it in total because they started talking about freezing temperatures around here.

But anyway, hope you have a great season! We are planning on taking the cover off next week and starting from scratch on the whole thing. Let me know about the salt generator. I am very curious on your outcome. :)
 
MikeSaw75 said:
I turned the heater off last night and the Temp will be dropping. The forecast for the upcoming week will be in the 50's and even colder at night.
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Do you know what it costs to run your heater in September? I keep toying with the idea of heating a pool in IL . I feel like it wouldn't really extend the season that much and if it did, it would cost a lot to heat. My pool isn't used that much, so trying to figure out if it's worth it.
 
Woodstock1234 said:
Do you know what it costs to run your heater in September? I keep toying with the idea of heating a pool in IL . I feel like it wouldn't really extend the season that much and if it did, it would cost a lot to heat. My pool isn't used that much, so trying to figure out if it's worth it.
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I am in Illinois chief, I have a 200k BTU heater and I will tell you that with our gas prices it isn't as high as you think.
 
I plan on setting everything up sometime this week or next. I am having some landscape work done so I may just wait for them to finish. I have a heater and plan on using it to get it up to temp and then hopefully just rely on the solar cover.
 
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